Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine
Nachtmystium is a band that I haven’t followed too closely for a number of years. I had some of the earlier stuff, but I’d stopped listening to them prior to the “love it or hate it” Black Meddle albums (Assassins and Addicts). Listening to Silencing Machine, it’s easy to tell that they’ve progressed beyond the basic Darkthrone/Burzum worship of the early days. For one thing, this is a very well produced album. The sound here is very clear and every instrument is given its space. When listening to Silencing Machine, I noticed that there are two distinct parts to it. The first half of this album is straight-forward Black Metal with some experimentation. It’s nothing wild and crazy. It pretty much sticks within the bounds of what most fans think of as being “acceptably Black Metal.” The second half of this album is where the weird stuff comes in. After “Decimation, Annihilation” starts, the songs get far more experimental. There is still a strong Black Metal element, but the outside influences are more prominent. The songs range from Industrial sounding stuff to Metal with Gothic or Ambient influences. The experimentation never turns into the kind of oddball shit that you get from bands like Ulver or D.H.G. (formerly known as Dodheimsgard). It may sound strange, but if you looked underneath the weirdness, you can still find a solid Black Metal core. It never degenerates into experimentation for the sake of experimentation. If you’re open-minded about your music, Nachtmystium stretches the boundaries of Black Metal, but on Silencing Machine at least, they don’t stray too far from the reservation.
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